• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires May 27, 2023
‘Remarkable Rebuke’: 130 U.S, EU Legislators Ask UN to Ditch Fossil CEO as COP 28 Chair May 23, 2023
Ontario Overrules Cities to Push Gas Plant Expansions May 23, 2023
Climate Concerns Drive Job Choices for 40% of Workers Under 40 May 23, 2023
PEROVSKITES: Qcells Plans First Production Line for ‘Miracle’ Solar Cell May 23, 2023
Next
Prev

Bahamas Fights to Rebuild after Devastating Hurricanes

March 8, 2020
Reading time: 2 minutes

Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian - Bill McKibben/Twitter

Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian - Bill McKibben/Twitter

 

Six months after Hurricane Dorian came roaring ashore in the Bahamas, locals are still struggling to repair their own shattered lives, depending on each other and the ongoing commitment of international charities. Meanwhile, government efforts are focused on rebuilding the island nation’s tourist economy.

“Ten minutes away from the restored and gleaming cruise ship terminals on Grand Bahama island, just beyond the multi-millionaires’ beach compounds, is the real Bahamas—and it lies in ruins,” reports the CBC in a recent feature on The National.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Officially, 76 lives were lost during the hurricane. But many agencies believe “the true death toll is more likely counted in four figures.” And with both jobs and insurance thin on the ground, life continues to be very hard for most Bahamians.

One local resident, Bishop Silbert Mills, owned a flourishing pizza shop that was worth half a million dollars, he told CBC. Now, the uninsured shop has been “reduced to vacant land,” and he has no hope of ever rebuilding that part of his life.

The suffering has been worsened by the fact that Dorian struck just as the Bahamas was bouncing back from the ravages of Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Many citizens stopped paying for insurance after Matthew “because they simply couldn’t afford it,” notes CBC.

Determined to bring what hope and progress it can to ordinary Bahamians, the Canadian charity GlobalMedic, which committed to staying on and expanding its services in the immediate aftermath of Dorian, has been using donations to hire local people to remove dangerous mould from water-ravaged homes, and to repair boats damaged by Dorian’s fury.

“We operate on a model of the right aid to the right people at the right time,” Jowett Wong, GlobalMedic’s lead in the Bahamas, told CBC. “Past that [initial] point where people need immediate food and water, they need a livelihood.”

The mould removal program, run in partnership with the regional Rotary Club, has created 45 local jobs. “We’re giving people…a safe place to come home to, and a way to earn money,” said Wong. GlobalMedic is also aiding Bahamian fishers, whose livelihoods were shattered when the storm tossed their precious boats into mangrove swamps and buildings. 

Directly benefitting from GlobalMedic assistance is fishing guide Joseph Thomas, who described the fishing boat repair project as “so needed and helpful.” Another guide, Philip Thomas, was waiting for one of the five boats he had owned to be repaired, but “still doesn’t know where some of the others ended up after the storm,” writes CBC.

“It’s important for me because it’s my livelihood, and it’s important that I continue to make a living to sustain my family and try to get my house repaired,” Thomas said.

Keeping busy also helps keeps Thomas’s abiding grief at bay. “His adult son died in the storm after rescuing his wife from the water, and while trying to rescue his three young children. All four died,” CBC reports.



in Buildings, Demographics, Environmental Justice, Health & Safety, Insurance & Liability, Jobs & Training, Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America, Severe Storms & Flooding, Travel, Leisure & Recreation

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Martin Davis/Facebook
Carbon Levels & Measurement

13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires

May 27, 2023
19
Arctic Circle/flickr
COP Conferences

‘Remarkable Rebuke’: 130 U.S, EU Legislators Ask UN to Ditch Fossil CEO as COP 28 Chair

May 23, 2023
368
Inspiration 4 Photos/flickr
Climate Impacts & Adaptation

Cooling Upper Atmosphere Has Scientists ‘Very Worried’

May 23, 2023
232

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

August 2, 2022
3.7k
Arctic Circle/flickr

‘Remarkable Rebuke’: 130 U.S, EU Legislators Ask UN to Ditch Fossil CEO as COP 28 Chair

May 23, 2023
368
University of Oxford Press Office/flickr

PEROVSKITES: Qcells Plans First Production Line for ‘Miracle’ Solar Cell

May 23, 2023
400
Inspiration 4 Photos/flickr

Cooling Upper Atmosphere Has Scientists ‘Very Worried’

May 23, 2023
232
Martin Davis/Facebook

13 Canadian Fossils Linked to Massive Losses in Western Wildfires

May 27, 2023
19
nakashi/flickr

Tokyo Residents Rally to Protect Trees, Stop Skyscrapers in Iconic Urban Park

May 21, 2023
476

Recent Posts

FMSC/Flickr

Waive Debt to Unlock Urgently Needed Adaptation Funds, Researchers Urge

May 27, 2023
13
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Ontario Overrules Cities to Push Gas Plant Expansions

May 23, 2023
851
Andrés Nieto Porras/wikimedia commons

‘Carbon Neutral’, ‘Net-Zero’ Claims Face Global Greenwash Crackdown

May 23, 2023
196
Activités culturelles UdeM/Flickr

Climate Concerns Drive Job Choices for 40% of Workers Under 40

May 23, 2023
155
peellden/Wikimedia Commons

Scientists Sound Alarm on Methane Emissions, Habitat Hazards at U.S. Hydro Dams

May 23, 2023
147
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/unrecognizable-from-the-original-design-suburban-renovations-disprove-cookie-cutter-stereotype

Embrace Suburbs, Exurbs in Climate Planning, Researchers Urge Cities

May 21, 2023
46
Next Post
Nachoman-au/Wikiemdia Commons

Equinor Scuttles Offshore Drilling Plan for Great Australian Bight

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}